The Law of Desire (11 page)

“Just call me as soon as you find something. And we might want to look into another safe house for Minerva. Because if you guys don’t find out who’s after her soon, I’m coming back.”

“So, it’s Minerva now…hmm.”

“That is her name.”

“Mmm-hmm…All right, Lawrence. I’ll be in touch as soon as we know more.”

Lawrence hung up his cell phone and shook his head. He must really have it bad if his cousin could tell there was something going on between him and Minerva over the phone. He hoped he could contain whatever he was starting to feel for her until he was sure she wasn’t a crook. And he most definitely hoped it wasn’t too late to put a halt to his emotions.

Even as he thought that he had to laugh. He was about half-past too late.

The soft knock on the door caused her to look up from her book. She really hoped Lawrence wasn’t going to try to tempt her with his delicious and
oh-so-fine
body, because she wouldn’t be able to resist.

Be strong! Resist temptation.
“Come in.”

He opened the door and walked into her room. “Are you sure you don’t want to watch a movie, play some cards, checkers, chess, dominoes, anything? I’m bored.” He gave her the perfect set of pleading puppy-dog eyes.

She smiled. The man probably never had any problems getting exactly what he wanted from women. Who could say no to that face, that strong, determined, handsome face? He had that good man/bad boy thing going on full blast, like her favorite actor, Idris Elba. Hell, he even looked like the actor.

She put the book down and stood. “I should warn you…If we play any of those games…I’m going to wipe the floor with you. I’m going to pretty much annihilate you in any game you pick. So if you’re one of those men whose ego is bruised easily when beaten by a woman, you should run along.” She made sweeping movements with her hands.

He grinned his sexy grin and his eyes gleamed. He was daring her. “Oh, you’re just going to start talking smack early, huh? It’s going to be fun to beat you at something. Hell, I’ll even be a gentleman and let you choose the game.”

“Okay, but you’re going to regret that, Detective.”

“Do not pass, go. Go directly to jail.”

He regretted it all right.

Lawrence stewed with a partial grin on his face. She had beaten him at just about every game in the house. And she was now proving to be a real estate mogul to boot by wiping the floor with him in Monopoly.

“And don’t think I’ve forgotten that you still owe me money for squatting on my property. I’m gonna need you to pay up, brother man.” She offered with a grin as she put up more hotels, apartments and businesses on the board.

“You must be cheating at these games somehow,” he grumbled.

“See there. I warned you ahead of time, but you didn’t listen. Don’t hate the player, hate the game or, in your case, games…” She burst out laughing before breaking out into a yawn. “I’m getting kinda tired. Why don’t we just call this one and say I beat you yet again.”

“No one likes a sore winner…And we haven’t played every game in the house yet. I have to beat you at something.” He got up and looked through the closet where they kept all the games and decks of cards.

The only thing left was the Karaoke machine. He grinned as he thanked God for the time he’d spent in the youth choir at Mt. Zion and the fact that he could actually carry a tune. He’d bet little miss game maverick couldn’t sing.

He pulled out the machine and brought it into the den. She was putting away the Monopoly pieces and stopped to stare at him.

“Trust me, you don’t want to get into it with me, Detective.” She laughed. “Look, I’m sleepy. I couldn’t
possibly
beat you at anything else. Plus, Karaoke is no fun with two people and it’s really only fun when people can’t sing.” She put her hands on her hips for effect, and he wondered how he was going to get through the rest of the night not being able to touch those delectable hips of hers.

“And how would we make it a competition, anyway?” She asked.

“Good question. I got it. We each pick the songs for the other and the first person to cave and not sing the song is the loser.”

She nodded. “I’m telling you now…”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll be sorry…You’re gonna beat me…blah, blah, blah.” He got started looking for a song that she would refuse so he could go to bed having beaten her at least once. It would be a small victory, but a victory nonetheless.

“Hmm, someone sounds like a sore loser. Well, since you want to be so snippy, losers go first. I’ll have a song for you in a moment.” She busied herself looking through the special Karaoke CDs and he did the same.

“Found yours.” The smile on her face gave him pause as he looked at the song she was pointing at on the CD.

“‘Achy Breaky Heart’? You’ve got to be kidding. Why do we even have anything by Billy Ray Cyrus in here? This must have come with the machine.” He frowned. He didn’t want to sing the song.

“You could always forfeit. You made the rules. If you don’t want to sing it, we can just keep my little winning streak going.” She grinned and leaned back on the sofa.

No way!
He riffled through the CDs and grinned. “Found yours, too. You can mull it over while I perform my show-stopping rendition of ‘Achy Breaky Heart.’”

She looked at the song he’d picked for her. Her eyes narrowed and her lips pursed.

There was no way his little hip-hop feminist would perform that song. He had this one in the bag.

He sang the country music song. He even did a quick and dirty version of what he thought a country line dance might be, well, a country version of the cha-cha slide anyway.

When he finished she clapped. “Look at you, carrying a tune and getting your little two-step on. I ain’t mad at ya. But you’re about to go down. I know you thought I would rather forfeit than sing this little song you picked for me. But I don’t cave. I take no prisoners and I play to win. Since you did a little dance with yours, I think I’ll even treat you to a dance. Good thing this is a cordless mic.”

He swallowed. Something told him he was in trouble.

Her seductive dance moves didn’t have anything on her voice. She sang like an angel.

Mesmerized, he stared at her with his mouth open and his eyes hooded. By the time she straddled him at the end of the song and finished it off in a soft, sexy pant, he was done.

She gazed into his eyes for a few minutes before standing up. “I was going to warn you before I was rudely interrupted. My mother was an awesome singer and my dad was a very talented musician before he got hooked on heroin. Music is in my blood, even though I would never make a career out of it.
Still
wanna play Karaoke?”

He shook his head and tried to compose himself after that sensuous song that ended in a seductive lap dance. “No. You win. You’re the best.”

He got up and hugged her before planting his lips on hers. She kissed him back with pent-up passion for a full minute before pulling away.

“I was serious, Lawrence. We can’t do this. I can’t. I’m sorry.” She backed away before turning and leaving.

He sat back down on the sofa. Contemplating the many ways Minerva Athena Jones was proving him wrong about everything he thought about her. She certainly lived up to her names, though. The
virgin goddess of the more disciplined side of war, cunning intelligence and the inventor of music, indeed.
She had certainly used the gift of song to wipe him out in battle! He smiled. It was going to be fun figuring her out.

A
fter a full day of being politely cordial with one another and trying to act as if they hadn’t shared the most body-rocking, mind-altering chemistry either of them had ever experienced, Lawrence was pretty sure he was going to lose it. He hadn’t gotten any sleep after their night of games because he kept thinking about what it had felt like to have her in his arms as they’d both drifted off to sleep. That was how they should have ended last night, not in separate beds.

He wanted her back in his arms again.

“I want to trust you, Minerva.” He realized that he really did, more than he could convey. He suddenly felt as if his future happiness was riding on his being able to trust her. And he wanted to be happy.

He remembered the silly toast that he and his brothers had made the same night he had approached Minerva in the bar. He and his brothers had toasted to happiness. If he were prone to have even the slightest sense of humor, he would have found the entire situation funny.

She took a sip of her coffee and stared at him. “I’m sure you do want to trust me. But you can’t and it’s cool. We can’t always have what we want.”

That’s where she was so wrong. He wanted her and he fully intended to have her. She was just going to have to learn to open up and trust him.

“Look, Minerva, I might not be the most patient guy in the world. But I know that some things are worth waiting for. As long as we can wait it out together, I’m willing to work on building the trust between us. I know you don’t fully trust me either, do you?”

She blinked. “Does it matter?”

“Hell, yes, it matters. Are you going to sit there and pretend that it doesn’t? Are you going to tell me that I’m the only one feeling what’s going on between us?”

She stared at him for a moment, her gaze hesitant and somber. “Why are you doing this?”

“Because I need you, Minerva. I need you to trust me. I need to trust you. I just need you.”

“You just want to have sex. I know I said we could have an affair while we’re here, but it’s getting too complicated. I—”

“You need me, too. And you’re scared by how much you do.”
So this is what it’s like…begging?

How did it come to this? How did Minerva Jones manage to slip into his heart and get him to the point where he was pleading for a chance?

She stood up to leave.

Oh, no, baby. No running. We are facing this today. Here and now, because I’m not going through another night without you in my arms. Hell, no.

He stood and walked over to her.

She tilted her head defiantly. She looked so cute, so sexy, so kissable. Those soft, pouty lips were just asking for him to plant one on her.

He took her face in his hands and let his fingers caress each of her lovely cheeks in his hold. He ran his thumb across her bottom lip first and then the top one. The touch was divine. Bending his head, he captured her mouth like the prize it was. She didn’t resist. She opened her mouth and her tongue dashed in, licking his mouth with tantalizing strokes that would have driven him mad if he wasn’t so determined to make her realize how deep he was falling, how important it was that she give them a chance.

Since he didn’t need to hold her face in place, he let his hand slide down her back. Cupping her backside, he pulled her to him. She groaned and deepened her kiss.

He wanted to lift her and take her on the kitchen counter. It was all he could do to end the kiss and back away.

“No more running away from this, for either of us. I want to work on the trust. I want to be with you. I’m not letting you push me away.”

She had her hand on her chest as if she were trying to catch her breath, but she looked up at his words. She slanted her left eye and twisted her lip.
“Letting me?”

“That’s right. When it comes to what is going on between us, I see that I’m going to have to be the one to call the shots, because I’m the only one willing to face what’s happening. When you get a little less scared and stop trying to run, maybe we can share that responsibility.”

She shook her head. “You’re crazy, Lawrence.”

He wanted to tell her that he was crazy about her, because he was. But he didn’t. Instead, he decided it was time to lay down the law, the law of desire.

“No more running from our feelings. No more not facing what’s happening between us, and for damn sure, no more nights without you in my arms. We’re going to work through this and face this together. We clear?”

She pursed her lips. He covered her mouth with his again, using his tongue, his lips and even his teeth to get her to see the light. As he nipped, nibbled, sucked, and feasted on her lusciousness, he couldn’t help but acknowledge that he really could go on kissing her forever. He stopped only when he had gotten his fill.

Taking a deep breath he slanted his eye. “We clear, Minerva?”

“Crystal,” she panted her response.

“Good. I’m going to do some work in the study. The sooner, we figure out who is trying to kill you, the sooner I can really focus all my attention on making you admit how much you need me, how much you need
us
.”

He pulled her close and kissed her again, slowly, deliberately. Her tongue swirled and danced in his mouth. He picked up his pace joining her in their ever-growing passion. Her hands traveled up and down his chest and it made him curse the shirt he wore. He wanted those soft fingers on his skin. He groaned from deep in this gut. If he didn’t want to take her right then and there in the kitchen, then he needed to stop.

Pulling away, he studied her as best as he could with his hooded gaze. The lust threatened to consume him whole as he took in her passion-blushed cheeks and kiss-swollen lips. Another feeling also bubbled up in him and it made him reach out and caress her face.

Gazing up at him with her big bright eyes, she purred sexily, “I think I’m going to like your methods, Detective.” And then she giggled as she tried to wiggle away from his embrace. “I have to say that it might take a little more to convince me…”

He held her steady not wanting to let her go.

“You haven’t seen anything yet. Us Hightower men can be very persuasive when it comes to getting the woman we want.” And if that other feeling bubbling up in his heart was what he thought it was then “want” couldn’t even begin to describe how important this woman was to him.

When her cell phone rang, she jumped. It hadn’t rung in so long, she’d almost forgotten she had the thing. She’d attached the charger to the phone and kept it plugged into a socket in her bedroom. The only person who had called the phone David had given her was David, and she hadn’t heard from him in a while.

She looked at the caller ID and saw that it was him.

“Hey, David.”

“Where the hell are you?”

Taken aback by his nasty tone, she paused while her mouth literally gapped open.

“Where are you, Thena?” his words seemed to be compressed and coming from between clenched teeth. “Hello? I asked you a question.”

“Timmy and Tommy were murdered and I had—”

“I know they were murdered. That’s why I’ve been trying to find you. Where are you?”

“I’m fine. But the people who killed them haven’t been caught. I’m safe and I’m trying to lay low. I don’t want them to get me, too.”

She heard him hiss. He sounded almost disgusted.

What the hell was wrong with him?

“Look, I think whoever killed Timmy and Tommy and maybe even my brother might be the same people. They even tried to snatch me. Luckily, there was a cop there and he saved me…”

“Are you with the cop now? I told you to stay away from the cops. Do you want to get killed? Or do you want the folks who took out your brother and my cousins to take out this cop, too? How many people are you willing to get killed for you?” His voice sounded harsh and ugly to her ears, unlike anything she’d ever heard from him.

She shook her head. He was probably just upset about Timmy’s and Tommy’s deaths. They were his cousins, after all, and he might even blame himself and her a little for their deaths. If he hadn’t sent her there, they would still be alive. The pang of guilt that had been threatening to overtake her since she walked into the apartment and found the twins murdered exploded in her chest and she bit back a gasp.

“I don’t want anyone else to die. Including you, David. That’s why I think it’s best if I just stay away for a while…”

“Just tell me where the hell you are. I’ll come and get you and we’ll find someplace safe for you.”

“I’m safe now. I’m good…” She thought she heard Lawrence in the hall and realized that if she was really going to repay David and keep him out of the mess her life had become, she’d better get off the phone. “I have to go, David. I’ll be in touch when it’s safe to do so. I’m really sorry about Timmy and Tommy. I’d just die if something happened to you, too—”

“And what about whoever you’re with? Would you just
die
if something happened to him? Because the person you’re messing with doesn’t play. You need to tell me where you are before someone else ends up dead!” His voice sounded almost threatening and she figured he really must blame her for his cousins’ deaths.

“I can’t do that. I’m sorry. ’Bye.” She hung up the phone and then turned off the ringer. David’s tone of voice was ridiculous. Even if he was worried about her or blamed her, he had no business snapping at her like that. Willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, she also knew that she had been very close to telling him off.

Yes, it was best to just turn off the ringer.

A few days later Lawrence leaned back in the office chair and rubbed his head as he listened on the phone to Kendall relaying the latest from the home front. He wanted to be in the action. Even though he was having the most exhilarating time of his life getting to know Minerva, sitting in the Poconos, while his colleagues were trying to find out who killed the McKnights and who was after Minerva, went against every fiber of his being.

“So apparently the person who’s after her is from California and he might have some ties with the drug cartel that is trying to set up shop in the Fourth Ward. The McKnights were supposed to be instrumental in that, but you shut that down when you sent them to jail five years ago. It looks like they weren’t willing to play their positions when they got out of jail and that might have gotten them killed.”

“So how does Minerva fit into this? Is she involved with drugs? The cartel?” She couldn’t be involved with drugs. She just couldn’t be.

“Still trying to figure that out. These clowns claim they don’t know. They just know that the guy who paid them wanted her badly. Maybe it’s a boyfriend? Lover?”

“Nah, he’s not a lover.” He only thought to halt his words after they had already fallen out of his mouth.

“How do you know?”

“He’s not her lover. Leave it at that.”

He could see Kendall shaking his head without even being in the same room with him. He could tell by the sigh and rueful chuckle coming across the phone lines.

“I don’t even want to know. But I will say this…Be careful.” Kendall paused. “Anyway…we’re still working on these guys and asking questions around town. One name that came up when we spoke with LAPD about her brother’s murder investigation and checked out the living relatives for the McKnights is David Sims. Apparently, he was the fourth member of their little crew and the four of them grew up together. He doesn’t have a record but the LAPD has been watching him for a while. They just can’t get anything to stick. Detective Morales just came across some evidence that allowed them to put a warrant out for his arrest. I still haven’t spoken to Morales himself yet. He may be out looking for this Sims guy. But if the guy from California that hired the white van folks and Sims are the same person, then I definitely need to chat with Morales.”

“David Sims, huh? I’ll ask her about him.”

“Yeah, you do that.”

“Listen, I’m thinking I need to come and get involved with this investigation myself. We need to find a safe house for her.”

“We can do that, Lawrence. Are you sure you would be cool with trusting her safety to others?”

Hell, no.

He paused. “Maybe we can hang out here for the rest of the week. But, y’all need to find out what’s what with this one soon. I can’t sit here doing nothing much longer.”

“Soup’s on…” A sweet voice beckoned to him from the doorway.

He looked up to find Minerva standing there looking sexy and waved her in. “I’ll call you back later.”

Kendall chuckled. “Yeah. You do that.”

He hung up the phone and turned his attention to Minerva. Delightful smells had been wafting through the house, and he’d wondered what she had been up to in the kitchen.

“It smells great. What did you cook?”

“Spaghetti and meatballs.”

“We had spaghetti sauce?”

“No. I used those tomatoes that were in the freezer and made some sauce from scratch. I hope that was okay…”

“It’s fine, my mom has so many tomatoes from her garden that we all have them in our freezers and she stores some here and home. Trust me there are
plenty
more tomatoes left somewhere in a Hightower household. But look at you making not only pancakes from scratch, but sauce, too. Most women I know use that jar stuff.”

Awed, he just stared at her.

She brushed a stray curl out of her eyes. “I’m not saying I won’t use a jar, because I will. But if I have time and beautiful tomatoes like the ones from your mom’s garden, I’m making my own. So come on. Let’s eat before it gets cold.”

“Come here first.” He folded his arms across his chest and leaned against the desk.

She hesitated at first but then stepped into the room and walked over. “What’s up? I know you don’t want the food getting cold.”

“Italian food always tastes good reheated.” He pulled her into his arms and swooped down for a kiss.

She tasted like the most decadent dessert he’d ever savored. She gave new meaning to the phrase “give me some sugar.” Her mouth epitomized confection sublime. Allowing his tongue to outline her lips and then sweep through her delectable mouth, he knew he would never get enough of kissing her. He wanted more.